diers in conftant employment. And as it would be difficult otherwife to find conftant exercise for threefcore thousand 'men, no minister surely, for the fake of his own character, will fuffer men in governmentpay to remain idle, when they can be employed fo usefully for the public fervice. Now, were a law made permitting no wheel-carriages on a toll-road that require more than one horse, it would leffen wonderfully the expence of reparation. Nor would fuch a law be a hardship, as goods can be carried cheaper that way than in huge waggons, requiring from fix to ten horfes (a). By fuch a law the tolls would make a capital branch of the public revenue, being levied without any deduction but for carrying gravel, or ftones where gravel is not to be had.

The most important branch of the project, is what regards the officers, The neceffity of reviving in our people of rank fome military spirit, will be acknowledged by every perfon of reflection; and in that view, the following articles are propofed. First, That there be two claffes of

(a) Gentleman Farmer, edition fecond, p. 46.

VOL. III.

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officers,

officers, one ferving for pay, one without pay. In filling up every vacant office of cornet or enfign, the latter are to be preferred; but in progreffive advancement, no diftinction is to be made between the claffes. An officer who has ferved seven years without pay, may retire with ho

nour.

Second. No man fhall be privileged to represent a county in parliament, who has not served seven years without pay; and, excepting an actual burgefs, none but those who have performed that fervice, fhall be privileged to represent a borough. The fame qualification fhall be neceffary to every one who afpires to ferve the public or the King in an office of dignity; excepting only churchmen and lawyers with regard to offices in their respective profeffions. In old Rome, none were admitted candidates for any civil employment, till they had ferved ten years in the

army.

Third. Officers of this clafs are to be exempted from the taxes impofed on land, coaches, windows, and plate; not for faving a trifling fum, but as a mark of diftinction.

The

The military fpirit must in Britain be miferably low, if such regulations prove not effectual to decorate the army with officers of figure and fortune. Nor need we to apprehend any bad confequence from a number of raw officers who ferve without pay :- among men of birth, emulation will have a more commanding influence than pay or profit; and at any rate, there will always be a fufficiency of old and experi ́enc'd officers receiving pay, ready to take the lead in every difficult enterprise.

To improve this army in military difcipline, it is propofed, that when occafion offers, 5 or 6000 of them be maintained by Great Britain, as auxiliaries to fome ally at war. And if that body be changed from time to time, knowledge and practice in war will be diffufed thro' the whole army.

Officers who ferve for pay, will be greatly benefited by this plan: frequent removes of those who ferve without pay, make way for them; and the very nature of the plan excludes buying and felling.

I proceed to the alterations neceffary for accommodating this plan to our present E 2 . military

military establishment. As a total revolution at one instant would breed confufion, the first step ought to be a fpecimen only, fuch as the levying two or three regiments on the new model; the expence of which ought not to be grudged, as the forces prefently in pay, are not fufficient, even in peace, to answer the ordinary demands of government. And as the profpect of civil employments, will excite more men of rank to offer their fervice than can be taken in, the choice must be in the crown, not only with refpect to the new regiments, but with refpect to the vacant offices of cornet and enfign in the old army. But as theie regulations will not inftantly produce men qualified to be fecretaries of ftate or commiffioners of treafury, so numerous as to afford his Majefty a fatisfac-. tory choice; that branch of the plan may be fufpended, till thofe who have ferved feven years without pay, amount to one hundred at leaft. The article that concerns members of parliament must be still longer fufpended: it may however, after the first feven years, receive execution in part, by privileging thofe who have feryed without pay to reprefent a borough,

refufing

refufing that privilege to others, except to actual burgeffes. We may proceed one step farther, That if in a county there be five gentlemen who have the qualification under confideration, over and above the ordinary legal qualifications; one of the five must be chofen, leaving the electors free as to their other reprefentative.

With respect to the private men of the old army, a thoufand of fuch as have ferved the longest may be disbanded annually, if fo many be willing to retire; and in their stead an equal number may be inlifted to ferve but feven years. Upon fuch a plan, it will not be difficult to find recruits.

The advantage of this plan, in one par ticular, is eminent. It will infallibly fill the army with gallant officers: Other advantages concerning the officers themfelves, fhall be mentioned afterward. An appetite for military glory, cannot fail to be roufed in officers who ferve without pay, when their fervice is the only paffport to employments of trust and honour. And may we not hope, that officers who ferve for pay, will, by force of imitation, be inspired with the fame appetite? No

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